10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE Royal Rumble

8. There Were 5 Other Non-PPV Rumbles On TV

Randy Orton WWE Royal Rumble Record
WWE

It'd be easy to imagine that the original 1988 Rumble was the only one WWE ran as a non-pay-per-view special in front of fans. That's...not the case. In fact, five other non-PPV Rumbles have happened in front of the cameras. Note the wording there - this does not include any non-televised house show runs.

A 20 tag-team version aired on the 16 June 1998 episode of Raw. It was far too cluttered and a bit on the short side at only 10 minutes, but it happened. Then, there was a 10 deep Rumble on the 11 January 1999 Raw, and a 15-man version on the 29 January 2004 edition of SmackDown.

Later, WWE produced a 6-man "mini" Rumble on Raw's 14 January 2008 broadcast, and Jerry Lawler won a 7-man scrap on the 31 January 2011 Raw. That, by the way, bagged him a WWE Title shot against The Miz at Elimination Chamber. It also meant one John Cena did the job for Lawler.

Memphis forever.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.